mahila vikas02




	Mahila Vikas Sangh The Mahila Vikas Sanghas are region-wide collectives of women made up of smaller village level sanghas. The Mahila Vikas Sanghas are active organizations in each of the talukas where SWATI works, each with over 6000 women members, a majority of whom are Dalits and OBCs (Other Backward Castes). The Sanghas give local women the resources and the authority to control and direct their own education and development needs.
	The Evolution of the Mahila Vikas Sangh SWATI began in 1993 with the goal of generating a process of mass-based social and economic empowerment of women in the Surendranangar District. The primary avenue identified to achieve this goal was through the mobilization of women at the grassroots level. SWATI initiated the process by organizing women to come together at the village level to build up strong sanghas in their communities. Through awareness and education, the women developed a cadre of core leaders who have taken responsibility and have played a catalytic role to address and act on the issues affecting the women and their communities. Local women have been provided with the resources to spell out their needs, plan for them, handle their finances accordingly, and ultimately execute and manage their own development programs.
	As the sanghas became more influential in their immediate localities, SWATI encouraged the individual sanghas to begin linking up and providing solidarity and support to other sanghas on issues and activities of common concern. The women thus developed an identity beyond the village sangha and also became members of the sangha collective, known as the Mahila Vikas Sangha (MVS).